EECS graduate student Shreya Saxena

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Where are you from and where did you complete your undergraduate studies?I was born in New Delhi in India, and I moved to Switzerland at the age of 11. I completed my high school and undergraduate studies in Geneva (International School of Geneva) and Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) during the next 10 years. I then moved to the US and joined the Johns Hopkins University to pursue a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering where my research was in the domain of Computational Neuroscience. I am now a first year student in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at MIT.

What is your research about and why are you excited about your project?

I’m currently working with Professor Munther Dahleh in the Laboratory of Information and Decision Systems. We are trying to further the field of Brain Machine Interfaces (BMIs) using a Control Theory standpoint. The work mainly involves the realization of a robust feedback-controlled system that takes as its input the signals recorded in the motor cortex, and gives as an output the real-time trajectory of a part of the body, for example, the hand. This endeavor involves detailed knowledge of the mechanism in which movements are generated, as well as intricacies involving the theory behind real- time control. The realization of such a system may then be used to guide a prosthesis during fast movements directly using brain signals in a way surpassing existing BMIs. Thus, I hope that our work will have a positive impact on the disabled community.

What do you like to do outside of research and academics?

I love exploring Boston and Cambridge, especially the restaurants. I like swimming and cooking in my spare time, and TV shows are my one major time-sucking weakness.

What are your career goals and future plans?

In the future, I would like to bring my project from a work in theory to implementing a BMI in practice. Oh, and winning the lottery would be great too :)